Understanding Religious Consciousness and Belief Systems
Enigmas of Man
Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you going?
The Religious
1. Personal Appearance
Man tries to discover the absolute ground of reality and of himself and tries to get in touch with him. That is, to try to know what all are and guide their lives accordingly.
2. Social Aspect
Religion has a social aspect that includes:
- A set of common beliefs.
- A group consciousness.
- A common worship.
Levels of Approach to Religion
1. Sociology of Religion
Questions the reality and the social significance of religion in the world.
2. History of Religions
Studies the historical development and evolution of religious beliefs and practices.
3. Philosophy of Religion
It is a part of philosophy that questions the peculiarity of religious consciousness.
4. Theodicy (or Natural Theology)
It is the part of philosophy whose task is to reflect on God.
5. Theology
Study of religion made both from reason and from faith.
Characteristics of Religious Consciousness
Feeling of absolute dependence (or feeling of being a creature).
Man realizes that he is a creature, a creature of God, and that he absolutely depends on Him for his being.
Feeling misunderstood (the mystery).
Sense of “religious awe.” This is not the “fear of being punished for being bad”, but the consciousness of knowing oneself as impure, tainted, before whom is holiness itself. (Otto said that the word “fear” is inadequate, but there is no better).
Feeling of love.
Character of the Divine
We cannot speak of the divine directly, but we can talk about it indirectly.
In correlation with the religious feeling of “absolute dependence”, the divine appears as the sum of majesty.
In correlation with the religious feeling of “not understanding”, the divine appears as the mystery or mysterious.
To match the sense of “religious awe”, the divine appears as tremendous.
In correlation with the religious sentiment of “love”, the divine appears as fascinating.
In summary, then, the divine appears as majesty and tremendous and fascinating mystery.
Atheism: Doctrine that denies the existence of God.
Theism (= demonstration): Doctrine that, for philosophical reasons, affirms the existence of God.
Agnosticism: Doctrine that says you cannot know whether God exists or not.
Deism: Asserts the existence of God, but says that God, having made the world, is not related to the world or with men (and therefore they also do not have to worry about God).
Fideism: Doctrine, professed by some religious people, who say God cannot be reached by reason, but only by faith.
Pantheism: Doctrine that “everything is God, or God is nothing else than the whole universe.”
Marx’s Atheism
The idea of God and the “beyond” emerges as the fruit of a conjugate of human ignorance and selfish interests of the two classes that constitute the socioeconomic ‘infrastructure’.
Nietzsche’s Atheism
Assuming the division of humanity into two types, the weak (“slaves”) and strong or rich in vitality (“lords”), the idea of a God who punishes any action is rejected.
Both measured Socratic rationality, Christian love, and egalitarianism are violently despised by Nietzsche, who claims that God is dead.
The Five “Tracks”
1st) For the movement of human beings
- Starting point: There are things that move.
- Metaphysical principle: Everything that moves is moved by another.
- Finishing point: There is a First Unmoved Mover.
2nd) On the causality of beings
- Starting point: There are caused causes.
- Metaphysical principle: Every caused cause is caused by another.
- Finishing point: There is an uncaused First Cause.
3rd) For the contingency of beings
- Starting point: There are contingent beings.
- Metaphysical principle: Every contingent being exists because of another.
- Finishing point: There is a Necessary Being, which exists by itself.
4th) For the degrees of perfection
- Starting point: There are beings who have the same perfection in varying degrees of limitation.
- Metaphysical principle: Limited perfections that a being has are not of itself, but received from another.
- Finishing point: There is a Being supremely perfect, unlimited, and existing by itself.
5th) By order of the world
- Starting point: There are beings who, despite a lack of intelligence, act with admirable order and leading to an end.
- Metaphysical principle: That order or purpose, in non-intelligent beings, is caused remotely by another being, intelligent and capable of proposing goals.
- Finishing point: There is ultimately a Supreme Intelligence, who works smart and with purposes, ordering all these beings.
Track Two: The Causality of Beings
a) Fact of experience: A number of conditions which in turn are caused.
b) Metaphysical principle: “Every caused cause is caused by another” —> cannot be caused by itself.
c) A series of items: This “other” cause, from which the first one is caused, is one of two things: either it is caused or not.
d) Principle of all of the series: We cannot go indefinitely from a caused cause to another cause, but we have to come to a time when we meet with an uncaused Cause.
Own reasoning of Aquinas
Deeper still: It cannot be that ALL elements of the series are caused. If all were caused, none of them could come into existence without a prior one… and this would happen to EVERYONE. Then there would be none; however, it is a fact that there are things. Then… Not all elements of the series are caused, which means AT LEAST ONE THAT THERE IS NOT. There is therefore a first uncaused cause, or First Cause, Primordial Being, which is what many prefer to call “God.”
Track Three: On the Ground of Beings
1st) Starting point: There are contingent beings.
2nd) Metaphysical principle: Every contingent being exists because of another.
3rd) Series of elements: Every contingent being that exists, exists because of another.
4th) Recognition of an absolute principle of the series: Every contingent being that exists, exists because of another.